HORROR

“Black Sun” by G. Thomas

One fan called this story a “fan tour-de-force”. “Black Sun” is a Cthulhu Mythos story set on a remote space station inhabited by cloned humans. When the Black man appears all hell breaks loose. Follow the different spacemen as terror comes from the stars.

The Book Collector is the guy Telford calls when one of his Mythos volumes goes missing. This time the renter is dead and the book is gone. Can the Book Collector find it in 24 hours, and can he beat another who wants it just as much? Enough to kill for it.

The Book of the Black Sun is thirty-two Lovecraftian tales of terror arranged in eight sections, each containing a micro, a flash, shorter story and a longer story. Motifs of strange books, evil creatures and spinning disks that form doorways to other realms are woven throughout the tales, making the final product a creepy, self-referential mandala in itself.

In 2002 G. W. Thomas published the first volume in this series, featuring Cthulhu Mythos tales that hinted at a world filled with spinning gateways that lead to terror. Finally, he has returned with the sequel collection that fans have begged for: the Book Collector. Set in the same world as the previous book, the tales of the Book Collector are fast-paced Noir Mysteries as well as horror stories. The Book Collector works for Telford, a mysterious figure who rents arcane tomes to the wealthy. When those books don’t come back the Book Collector has 24 hours to retrieve them, and he will receive half the rental fee, a cool million. The book in question… The Book of the Black Sun. But the clients aren’t playing and bullets and magic are often part of the job. This book features all the Book Collector stories (so far!) including “Goon Job” and “Merlin’s Bane” which appeared on the horror podcast, Pseudopod. Also included amongst the eleven tales are “Hag-Seed” and “Shades of Auburn”, two never before published novellas.

One of eight quartets from G. W. Thomas’ The Book of the Black Sun (above), a collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction. Each quartet is made up of a micro fiction piece of 100 words or less, a flash story 300-500 words, a short story of around 2000 and a longer one of 3000-5000 words. This one features “Cat House”, “Helping Hand”, “The Suit” and “There Was an Old Lady”. James Ambuehl wrote: “There Was An Old Lady” is a strange piece, owing an obvious, if unexpected debt, to Mother Goose nursery rhymes, while “The Man Who Would Be King” follows in the footsteps of the Maine Man — successfully wedding King’s themes to the Master, HPL’s. Yet the WAY they emulate their models, especially in the former, is ingenious! Jim Lee wrote in Scavenger’s Newsletter #175: “…But the better Lovecraft pastiche here [“There Was An Old Lady”] is probably the one by G. W. Thomas, where a carny recruiter blunders into the “hills west of Arkham” and ends up dictating an audio cassette account of his nightmare adventure just before…well, before the expected (yet fairly effective) ending.”

One of eight quartets from G. W. Thomas’ The Book of the Black Sun (above), a collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction. Each quartet is made up of a micro fiction piece of 100 words or less, a flash story 300-500 words, a short story of around 2000 and a longer one of 3000-5000 words. This one features “A Thing Called Love”, “Book of the Black Sun”, “Tender Hearts” and “The Songs of Madness”. James Ambuehl wrote: “This collection of exclusively Mythos stories is a very inspired one, many of the stories exhibiting a craft and ease of style usually somewhat lacking in the work of others.”

One of eight quartets from G. W. Thomas’ The Book of the Black Sun (above), a collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction. Each quartet is made up of a micro fiction piece of 100 words or less, a flash story 300-500 words, a short story of around 2000 and a longer one of 3000-5000 words. This one features “Found On Your Door Step”, “Shower Demons”, “Night Visions” and “Best Friends”. James Ambuehl wrote: “This collection of exclusively Mythos stories is a very inspired one, many of the stories exhibiting a craft and ease of style usually somewhat lacking in the work of others.”

One of eight quartets from G. W. Thomas’ The Book of the Black Sun (above), a collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction. Each quartet is made up of a micro fiction piece of 100 words or less, a flash story 300-500 words, a short story of around 2000 and a longer one of 3000-5000 words. This one features “Homecoming”, “Colloquoy of Demoiselle and Hastur”, “Spitting In Niagara Falls” and “The Court of Two Lions”. James Ambuehl wrote: “This collection of exclusively Mythos stories is a very inspired one, many of the stories exhibiting a craft and ease of style usually somewhat lacking in the work of others.”

One of eight quartets from G. W. Thomas’ The Book of the Black Sun (above), a collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction. Each quartet is made up of a micro fiction piece of 100 words or less, a flash story 300-500 words, a short story of around 2000 and a longer one of 3000-5000 words. This one features “Swimming Pool”, “Nothing To Do On a Wednesday Night”, “The People” and “Six Bullets”. James Ambuehl wrote: “This collection of exclusively Mythos stories is a very inspired one, many of the stories exhibiting a craft and ease of style usually somewhat lacking in the work of others.”

One of eight quartets from G. W. Thomas’ The Book of the Black Sun (above), a collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction. Each quartet is made up of a micro fiction piece of 100 words or less, a flash story 300-500 words, a short story of around 2000 and a longer one of 3000-5000 words. This one features “They Never Knew”, “If You Want To Leave a Message”, “The Faces” and “At the Sound of the Tone…”. James Ambuehl wrote: “This collection of exclusively Mythos stories is a very inspired one, many of the stories exhibiting a craft and ease of style usually somewhat lacking in the work of others.”

One of eight quartets from G. W. Thomas’ The Book of the Black Sun (above), a collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction. Each quartet is made up of a micro fiction piece of 100 words or less, a flash story 300-500 words, a short story of around 2000 and a longer one of 3000-5000 words. This one features “Rerun”, “Waking Dream” (Honorable Mention Years Best Horror), “Mother” and “The Other Woman”. James Ambuehl wrote: “This collection of exclusively Mythos stories is a very inspired one, many of the stories exhibiting a craft and ease of style usually somewhat lacking in the work of others.”

One of eight quartets from G. W. Thomas’ The Book of the Black Sun (above), a collection of Cthulhu Mythos horror fiction. Each quartet is made up of a micro fiction piece of 100 words or less, a flash story 300-500 words, a short story of around 2000 and a longer one of 3000-5000 words. This one features “The Spine”, “Whipping Boy”, “The Man Who Would be King” and “If You Go Down To the Woods Today…”. James Ambuehl wrote: “There Was An Old Lady” is a strange piece, owing an obvious, if unexpected debt, to Mother Goose nursery rhymes, while “The Man Who Would Be King” follows in the footsteps of the Maine Man — successfully wedding King’s themes to the Master, HPL’s. Yet the WAY they emulate their models, especially in the former, is ingenious!

Baron von Klarnstein, famed occult detective and leader of the Athenodorians, has retired and is spending time with his granddaughter in England. The Mystery of the Blue Man, a vampire-like fiend, draws them into a series of odd events that defies explanation.

“The Case of the Phantom Legion” is a Pulp-style adventure for the Athenodorians, a secret society of ghostbreakers lead by the mysterious Baron Von Klarnstein. Also in the cast are his daughter Orestia, a sword-swinging tomboy, and Paul McNab, a rough and tumble hero. The evil that lurks in the Michigan woods is ancient and invisible.

Arthur Freeborn was not like other people. He was Fey. He had mutilated himself trying to appear human but still the people of England, despite their Victorian era of trains, Science and morals, persecuted him for his gifts. That was until someone began killing women in the streets of London. Was Freeborn the spring-heeled knifeman or was he the one to catch him? Jack Mackenzie offers up his fantastic version of Victorian London in this fantastic mystery, filled with magic and murder.

Jack Mackenzie’s first tale in the Cthulhu Mythos. Follow a troop of American soldiers into the Iraqi desert as they stumble upon secrets much older, much more dangerous than mere terrorism. What are Weapons of Mass Destruction to Cthulhu?

Eighteen tales for your yuletide pleasure. From vampires and Frankenstein’s monster to alien invaders and Lovecraftian squidgies, G. W. Thomas offers up a treeful of presents, each decorated in terror. Features an afterword on Christmas ghosts by the author.

Christmas has always been a time of magic and strangeness. G. W. Thomas dips his pen in that ink and writes tales for the season. Three stories from Ghoultide Greetings: Horror Stories For Christmas (above), featuring “The Face, The Hands That Tell the Time”, a traditional ghost story, “The Ornament”, a modern horror tale, and a dark fantasy “The Green Man”.

Christmas has always been a time of magic and strangeness. G. W. Thomas dips his pen in that ink and writes tales for the season. Three stories from Ghoultide Greetings: Horror Stories For Christmas (above), featuring the vampire tale, “What Child Is This”, a Cthulhu Mythos tale, “A Thousand Cuts, A Thousand Deaths” and a little Science Fiction horror in “Santa”.

Christmas has always been a time of magic and strangeness. G. W. Thomas dips his pen in that ink and writes tales for the season. Three stories from Ghoultide Greetings: Horror Stories For Christmas (above), featuring historical horror tale, “And No Bird Sings”, a ghost-breaker tale, “All the Trees That are In the Woods”, and a Cthulhu Mythos tale in “The Drawer”.

Christmas has always been a time of magic and strangeness. G. W. Thomas dips his pen in that ink and writes tales for the season. Three stories from Ghoultide Greetings: Horror Stories For Christmas (above), featuring the classic horror tale, “Long Desired and Long Delayed”, a season horror tale, “On the Feast of Stephen”, and a Cthulhu Mythos tale with “Yearbook”.

Christmas has always been a time of magic and strangeness. G. W. Thomas dips his pen in that ink and writes tales for the season. Three stories from Ghoultide Greetings: Horror Stories For Christmas (above), featuring two tales set in Robert E. Howard country,“When Johnny Comes Marching Home…”,and “Oh, Lucky Man”, plus the short suspense tale “For Goodness Sake”.

Christmas has always been a time of magic and strangeness. G. W. Thomas dips his pen in that ink and writes tales for the season. Three stories from Ghoultide Greetings: Horror Stories For Christmas (above), featuring a flash tale “Holiday Train”, a ghost-breaker tale “Green Growth the Holly So Doth the Ivy”, and the short weird tale “The Bells of St. Andrew”.

The second story in the Hope series. Deputy Sheriff Hope is fleeing a terrible evil when he happens upon a girl on the run. Which will kill him first, the ruthless land owner who controls the town or the undead thing on his trail?

The third Hope Weird Western tale. Deputy Sheriff Brett Hope is riding for the Mexican border in search of three men and their hostage, a girl. He expects the men are up to no good but soon finds a trail of mysterious corpses that tell another story altogether. Who is killing whom?

Harlan DaVinci was known the world over as a detective of the unknown, a layer of ghosts, a champion for the terrified. This time he is off to Viet Nam, a country at war. But it is not the war with the Viet Cong that DaVinci, and his assistant, Jimmy DuPont must face but a much older one. Jack Mackenzie offers up chills with an eye towards history in this weird Tales-style adventure.